MMU Age Education Level and Other Social Status Factors Discussion and Responses

  discussion post

A doc of the email exchange between Jenny and Joseph Aston (not  their real names) is linked to this assignment (attached). Open it,  read it and ponder the TLN-FN relationships as described in the  Tannen book and in the recorded presentation. Also, read the article,  Formal Manners and Titles (Attached). Do you think Aston was showing power in this exchange? Was it  respectful? What would be your reaction? Have you ever had any question  about what to call someone . . . and it turned out that you were  corrected like Jenny? If so describe it. If not, have you ever had  questions about how to address someone? Describe the situation in your  post and how it turned out. 

POST

Reply to these student posts pleaseStudent 1I

 don’t believe that Dr. Aston is trying to shower power because he 

doesn’t come rude to me. I can see how some people may take it in a 

wrong way but to me he is just correcting her. He even says, “no 

worries”. I believe he was just trying to teach her not to make the same

 mistake again. I never had any question on what to call some one, 

especially in a school setting. Everyone knows you should email a 

teacher by calling them professor. That’s what I was always taught. If I

 would have made the same mistake as jenny, then I would have probably 

done exactly what she did. I had a colleague who was a woman but dressed

 exactly man. At first, I didn’t know whether or not to address her like

 a woman or as a man. I started to know her better and I ended up 

telling her, “wasup dude”. She was ok with it. Student 2To

 be honest reading that exchange with Jenny and the professor got me a 

little irritated because it was clear the professor was trying to show 

power and in a non respectful way. He definitely could have relayed his 

message in a less harsh and demanding tone in the email response. Had I 

received a response like the one Jenny received, I probly would have 

responded back to the professor telling him “It’s OK, I found a better 

article to write about, thanks anyways” and just to be extra petty call 

him by his 1st name at the end of the email. Title last name or not I, 

believe you should give respect in order to get respect, no matter what 

position, or at least not be disrespectful. 

     One time while I worked in customer service a woman came in but she

 was dressed in what appear to be male clothes with a short haircut, I 

was confused as if she was transgendered or just wearing those clothes 

because that was her style, but called her “ma’am” a couple times seemed

 kind of awkward because I believe she wanted to correct me but didn’t 

want to make the situation even more awkward. I didnt know a formal 

gender neutral way of addressing someone.